Might Edsall tinker with his staff? Nobody has yet ruled that option in or out.

And what did Anderson observe during his field assignment at N.C. State? He had to endure the biggest comeback in Wolfpack history as the Terps lost a 27-point lead.

"The last game was extremely disappointing," the AD said. "But there were some things I saw in there that were positive -- some of the young players that were stepping up that will be here for two or three more years. The growth and the opportunity,I think, is the light at the end of the tunnel. We played a lot of underclassmen -- a lot of people that hadn't been on the field before."

Anderson also told me: “I realize we owe the fan base more than what we did this year.”

And one particularly troubling note. The AD said he received a death threat in January.

"Somebody wrote a letter and included their name and address and told me that they were going to blow up and burn my house with my family in it. And the police went and knocked on the door, and a gentleman answered and said: 'You must be here about the letter.' "